IVOR PETER D'SA

ABSTRACT: Objective: To study and evaluate the drug information services provided in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Materials and Methods: Eight month prospective observational study was done from June 2015 to February 2016. The received drug information queries by ward rounds, direct access and telephone were documented. The documented queries were evaluated by various parameters like status of enquirer, mode of receipt, time frame to reply, purpose of enquiry, types of queries and references used. The quality of drug information centre was evaluated on the basis of feedback questionnaire circulated. Result: A total of 219 queries were received during the study period. Majority of questions are received from general medicine department (73.51%) and the service is more utilized by physician (46.1%). Greater number of queries was received during the ward rounds (65.80%) and answers to queries were most often needed within 2-4 hours (40.63%). Majority of queries were for better patient care (49.3%). Majority of the quires were related drug therapy (21%) and most frequently used reference was internet (42.07%). For the evaluation of quality of drug information service a total of 30 feedback questionnaire were distributed. The feedback questionnaire showed that 76.6% aware about drug information centre and 66.6% rated the performance as very good. Conclusion: The present study shows that drug information services provided by pharmacists were useful to healthcare professionals in providing better patient care and to updating knowledge.